wittmann



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H. WITTMANN. FAN ATTAOHMENT FOR ROCKERS.

No. 416,981. Patented Dec. 10. 1889.

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ATTORNEYS.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2..

(No Model.) 7

H. WITTMANN.

I FAN ATTACHMENT FOR ROCKERS. N0. 416,981. Patented Dec. 10, 1889.

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BY Wig v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERMANN \YI'ITMANN, ()F RUDOLPH, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNO R OF ONE-HALF TO CHRISTIAN O. (.IIOSE, OF SAME PLACE.

FAN ATTACHMENT FOR ROCKERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 416,981, dated December 10, 1889.

Application filed May 4, 1889. Serial No. 309,572. (No model.)

To (tZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HERMANN WITTMANN, of Rudolpl1,in the county of Wood and State of Visconsin, have invented a new and Improved Fan Attachment for Rockers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptiou. -My invention relates to an improved fan attachment for rockers, cradles, swinging seats, swinging beds, and other articles of furniture having equivalent movement, and has for its object to provide an attachment of simple construction which maybe readily and expeditiously attached without marring the article of furniture to which it is applied, and wherein whenthe device is applied to a rocker it will not be necessary for the occupant of the latter to rockyery far back to cause a revolution or a partial revolution of the fan.

A further object of the invention is to provide a means whereby the fan may be adj usted vertically, if so desired.

The invention consists in the novel con- 2 5 struction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rocker having the device applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the fan, the fan-shaft, and 3 5 the socket for the said shaft. Fig. 3 is a central vertical section through the upper end of the fan-shaft socket, illustrating the attachment thereto of a spring-actuated latch capable of engaging the fan-shaft; and Fig. i is a perspective view of a rocker, showing a modification. To the under surface of the arm 10 of the rocker near the front a horizontal bracket 11 is secured, a portion of which bracket projects beyond the outer surface of the arm, and upon the rocker 12, in vertical alignment with the upper bracket 11, a second horizontal ouiwardly-projecting bracket 13 is secured, and in said bracket a post or spindle 14 is journaled in any suitable or approved manner, the upper end of which post or spindle is reduced and tubular, and is provided with a vertical slot 15, leading into its interior, in

which slot an L-shaped latch 16 ispivotcd,

the head of the latch, which is at a right angle to itsbody, being normally held to project within the upper bore of the post or spindle by means of a spring 17 or equivalent device, as illustrated in In the tubular portion of the post or spin- 6o dle 14 the lower reduced end 18 of a vertical tan-shaft 1,9 is adapted to be introduced, the

said reduced section 18 of the fan-shaft being provided upon one side with a series of notches 20, as best-shown in Fig. 2. By reason of this construction the fan-shaft may be raised or lowered to accommodate a person seated in the rocker, as it will be held in any position in which itmay be placed by the contact of the latch 16 with one of the notches 7o 20.

Slightly in advance of the post or spindle is a pendulum 21, having two members, is pivoted to the upper bracket 11, or adjacent thereto, in such manner that the pendulum may move laterally to the front and rear of the post or spindle as the rocker is moved either backward or forward without the weights 22, secured to the extremities of the said pendulum, contacting with the sides of So the chair-frame, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

In the drawings the pendulum is represented as being constructed of a wire rod bent to a U shape, pivoted at its bow portion,

and each extremity, which is slightly curved outward, is provided with a weight 22, in the shape of a ball. I desire it, however, to be distinctly understood that the form of the pendulum may be changed or varied, it being necessary only that the said pendulum be provided with two members. The weights attached to the members may be of any de sired or preferred contour.

Around the spindle or post It a cord, rope, or chain 23 is wound, one end of which cord, rope, or chain is secured to one member of the pendulum near the weight, and the other end of the cord is attached in like manner to the opposite member of the pendulum.

Upon the upper end of the fan-shaft 19 a fan 23 is detach-ably secured, which fan may be of any approved construction, and the attachment of the fan to the shaft is usually effected by boring the fan-handle to receive the end of the shaft and passing a set-screw 24 through said handle to a contact with the shaft.

It will be readily observed that the pendulum will move in the same direction that the chair is rocked, and that at each movement of the pendulum, which is simultaneous with the movement of the chair, the spindle 14 will be given, for instance, a quarter-turn, which movement is communicated to the fan-shaft and the fan thereby turned in like manner. Thus, as the chair is rocked backward and forward, a continuous lateral oscillating movement is imparted to the fan.

If it is found desirable, a socket may be provided upon the opposite side of the chair, in which a second fan-shaft may be journaled, this latter fan-shaft being revolved by a beltconnection with the post 14, as shown in Fig. 4, in which event, if it is desired to use only one fan, the said fan may be shifted from one side of the chair to the other, as desired. By reason of this construction a proper movement will be imparted to the fan even though the occupant of the chair should rock but a slight distance rearward, and, further, the pendulum does not in theslightest degree retard the movement of the occupant of the chair, but rather tends to assist the said occupant in rocking.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination, with a rocker or other article of furniture having equivalent movement, of a fan-supporting spindle journaled at one side of the rocker, a pendulum having two members and pivoted at its bow to the rocker, and a cord wound around the said spindle and having its ends connected to the members of the pendulum, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. The combination, with a rocker, of a spindle journaled at one side thereof and having a tubular upper end, a fan-shaft detachably held in the tubular spindle, a U-shaped one of the'brackets in front of the spindle,

and a cord Wound around the spindle and having its ends secured to the members of the pendulum, substantially as described.

HERMANN WITTMANN.

\Vi tn esses:

Lou s LEvnm'vosH, JOHN POSPISIEL. 

